Billions of advertising dollars are spent annually by businesses who want to receive telephone calls from customers or potential customers. Forcing a caller to wait when placing a call, e.g., by placing a caller on hold for any length of time, could mean the difference between a satisfied customer and a loss of business. Accordingly, content such as music, news, advertisements, etc. are often played to callers waiting to be connected to a business representative such as an agent in a call center. The object of playing such content is generally to prevent the caller from hanging up his or her telephone while waiting to speak to a business representative.
However, callers listening to bland content chosen not to offend a wide range of people may become disinterested and disinclined to wait when put on hold. This problem is particularly acute in the case of callers who are already upset or angry because they are experiencing billing problems, technical problems, etc. As a result, callers waiting on hold often hang up, to the detriment of the called party, which could profit from receiving the call.